Last week
(Last Updated: Tuesday 21 March)
Fishing report for W/C 13th March 2023
This week started with milder weather and snow melt coming down the river from the Cairngorms, resulting in a big river on Monday. As the week progressed the river began dropping back before another rise on Friday & Saturday.
Before we get into some of the beat stories I just wanted to mention Ladies Day. We had 12 beginners at Invery & Tilquhillie for a day with TwinPeakes Fly Fishing and a band of local enthusiastic volunteers. Everyone had a great day and new friends were made, along with a new found hobby for a few! You can see pictures of the day over on the River Dee Damsels social media pages (@River Dee Damsels). The next Ladies Day will be on Friday 8th September 2023, please drop me an e mail for more info.
Around the beats this week; -
Starting at Dess, congratulations to Peter Howes who landed a 7lb fish from Pitslug on Tuesday.
Ballogie, Carlogie and Commonty all had fish this week, local angler Ewan Maclachlan was fishing at Ballogie on Thursday evening, he said he had his rod in the water at 5.05pm and a fish on at 5.07pm with his third cast! The lucky fly was a Willie Gunn, given to Ewan by Charlie Robertson. Well done Ewan, it looked like a lovely fresh fish.
Having caught a very fresh 9lb spring fish at Lower Woodend on Tuesday Stefan Mahlau from Germany fished the end of the week at Sluie and with the rise in water on Thursday he caught his second fish of the week in Inchbare on Friday. A very fresh 8 pounder. Congratulations to him on another successful trip to the Dee.
At Cairnton & Middle Blackhall on Saturday Mark Blair caught a silver beauty of 14lb from the tail of Kelpie on a cascade tube. Brian Brogan said it was good to see Mark getting one as it's normally his son Lewis that gets a fish! Week done to Mark.
Little Blackhall & Inchmarlo beat had a great week, Vittorio Spasciani and his party of anglers from Italy have been fishing the Dee for 14 years, this week they had 3 of the fish from Little Blackhall bank and 1 from Inchmarlo bank. As you can see from the pictures the fish were just stunning and the colours beautiful. But the real highlight was a beautiful large spring salmon measuring 37inches long and looking it up on the chart that Daniel the Ghillie keeps in the hut, that would make it 20lb on the scales maybe even a touch over that. Many congratulations to the Ghillie and all of the anglers on the beat, the other fish were 8lb and 10lb and fresh as paint!
This week the Italians did well on the river, but the Scot’s beat them at Murrayfield! ..which leads on nicely to the announcement of our inaugural Dee Heroes Dinner in August and the keynote speaker, who will be Rob Wainwright, a keen angler and a legend in Scottish Rugby.
We also had a short snippet on BBC1 Countryfile last night (Sunday) about our habitat restoration work on the Beltie Burn near Banchory, an important tributary for spawning salmon. Watch on catch up on the BBC iPlayer or on the clip on the River Dee Facebook page.
For more details on the event and to tell me about your fishing adventures on the Dee, then get in touch.
Tight lines!
Debbie Cooper
07979 878971
[email protected]
Pictured, Mark Blair at Cairnton, Vittorio Spasciani party photos and the 20lb fish. Welcome at Ladies Day on the Dee.
Helpful Information
Tackle Shops and Outfitters on Deesside
Guides and Instructions on the River Dee
Where To Stay on Dee and the surrounding countryside.
Where To Eat on the river Dee.
Fishing Permits for the River Dee.
Get In touch:
Thanks so much for sending me your photos and your stories in 2022, and for coming to fish the Dee, if you have not been yet then come in 2023 and see us!
All the best
Debbie Cooper
[email protected]
T 07979 878971
